If Stern’s advertisements are so blatant, it’s not very hard to conceive the nature of the material on his show. It makes me wonder how many people buy satellite radio to listen to him. The answer? There are 3.2 million subscribers to XM satellite radio. Which also raises the question, how many of that 3.2 million subscriber’s kids listen to him every morning?

I am all for the bleeps, hushes and “hecks” that replace the negative language in songs and movies. Do we really need our kids running around talking about how the Governator (a.k.a. Gov. Arnold Scharzenegger) because they saw him blow someone up and curse off a room maid in “Terminator?”

Young children gaining access to uncensored is a swiftly worsening problem today. More and more nine year olds have “Check on Me,” by Beyoncé, memorized than their times tables.

Suppose you have a family with young kids and you’d like to have them brought up with healthy minds, so you teach them to use good manners and not to use profanity. One day you’re reading the latest edition of Newsweek at the table and your ten-year-old daughter walks by, ear buds blasting as she sings along about her “humps”. Wouldn’t feel too good, would it?

Some music and even some movies nowadays are demoting education. In our generally luxurious (and sometimes spoiled) communities, where kids already have a bad disposition towards institution, we don’t need our celebrities telling them not to learn.
You might say that if we want the immature minds of our nation’s youth not to see something, then the parents should just get parental controls for their televisions and Internet providers. Well, there are, with no doubt, people who can’t really afford such technology, and those who can sometimes don’t even know how to use them, because they usually come with some other plan.
Given, there are people who do figure out how to set the passwords, but in many cases, the kids figure out the password and watch it when no one’s watching them.

You may also mention how bleeping things curse words and skipping over swears ruins the feel and passion of the song. Or maybe you complain about curses in films being replaced by words like “spit”, “shucks”, and “heck”. Maybe you hate how radio talk shows can’t always talk about what they want all the time because of FCC restrictions.

Well, answer me this: would rather have the intensity and passion of that certain moment in your favorite song and/or motion picture as you watch and listen to it, or have your young, sponge-minded child repeat it all week in front of you mother-in-law?

Still want satellite radios and pay-per (uncensored)-view channels? Well, like most things in life, it’ll cost ya’. To join the over 3 million XM subscribers, you’ll have to pay $12.95 a month to listen to Howard Stern talk about some low self-esteemed women’s chest. Or, you could tune in on your 10-dollar hand radio to 93.3 FM every morning to listen to the healthy humor of Preston and Steve’s morning show. Even if you miss it or don’t live near Philly, you can download their Podcast- free of charge.

Perhaps you want digital cable so you can watch R-rated with your toddlers “on demand.” That bill will come up to a monthly price of up to one hundred and ten dollars per month. Do the math. Please if you haven’t gotten anything from this article, promise me this: if you have access to uncensored media, please, do as much as you can to, as they say, “keep out of reach of small children.”

Brian G on writing:

A billboard for Howard Stern's new morining show on sattelite radio displayed in Philadelphia.